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Section 1 – The establishment and early years of the Weimar Republic, 1918-1924.Key Issues:Part 1 – Impact of war, the political crises of October and November 1918 and the establishment of the Weimar Constitution.Part 2 –The Impact of the Versailles Settlement on Germany.Part 3 – Economic and social problems in Germany, 1923-24.Part 4 – Political instability and extremism, 1919-24.Event/Issue:Knowledge SummaryEvaluation/ConclusionsLinks/Themes/ Extra Thinking.Part 1 – - Impact of war.- The political crises of October and November 1918.- The establishment of the Weimar Constitution.September 1918 – General Ludendorff knew Germany was losing, so requested an armistice with the allies, to avoid a humiliating defeat. October Reforms – Ludendorff advised the Kaiser to make reforms to the democracy in order to accept the 14 points from Wilson. This basically ended the Kaiser’s rule. Prince Max Boden appointed Chancellor – responsible for the Reichstag and he created a new government based on the majority of the parties – including the SPD (Social Democratic Party).Peace Note – 3rd Oct – Boden wrote to Wilson to ask for an armistice. Took weeks to reply. Wilson asked for Germany to leave all occupied territory, cal an end to submarine warfare and fully democratise its political system.22nd October – Workers strike, “The Kaiser is a scoundrel” and “Up with the German Republic”.28th October – German navy’s high command, ordered ships to attack British ships in the English Channel.November Revolution 1918 – Kiel, 3rd November. Sailors took control of their base. Spread to the city Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils were created. 6th November – councils spreading across all Germany. 9th November – SPD called on workers in Berlin to join the strikes. Threatened to withdraw support from Boden’s government. Boden needed SPD to rule Germany. Boden claimed that the Kaiser had abdicated, desperate move by Boden so he resigned and passed his job to Friedrich Ebert – leader of the SPD. Abdication of Kaiser – 9th November 1918 – Kaiser was given the news that his abdication had been announced in Berlin. He was forced to accept. Left for Holland as it remained neutral. Struggle for Power – Ebert believed he could achieve change through winning a majority in parliamentary elections, he had come to power through revolutionary means and his government lacked legitimacy. He was desperate to establish a new constitution. Ebert-Groener Pact – 10th November – Groener phoned Ebert to tell him the army would support Ebert, in return Groener demanded that Ebert ignore the demands of the councils and that the army would be used to defend Germany from becoming a communist revolution. Weimar Constitution – Positives -Wider right to vote – women, Proportional Representation – small parties get seats, Full democracy, Civil Rights, Referendums – president, Reichsrat, people (1/10 electorate agreed).Negatives - The Proliferation of Small Parties – nothing could get decided. Small parties used it to hinder votes and exploit the system, Coalition governments – No one party majority, Short-lived governments.Second Empire – The Army -Free from political control and wanted to stay that way, Full force of military power would be used against the left wing revolts, Right often had the support from the armed forces. Judiciary - Article 54 – independence of the judges. Those who had been judges before the Weimar remained in their posts once the W.C was established, these were staunchly monarchist and anti democratic and showed their bias in their legal judgements. October Reforms – To help avoid the humiliating defeat, referred to as the “revolution from above” – as they did not come about due to popular demand/the main democratic party in the Reichstag. Peace Note – Basically demanded Germany’s surrender, end to the Kaiser’s rule. Ludendorff could not accept the terms, did not get support, he fled to Sweden as he had failed. Impact on German People – Shattering blow to the German people. Peace note was an admission that Germany was losing the war. Kaiser had lost support and respect. Soldiers and sailors lost respect for their commanders and officers.28th Oct – Two cruisers refused to attack, this was the start of a bigger revolutionary movement. November Revolution – Councils in favour of removing the Kaiser and establishing a democratic Germany. 8th November – Bavarian monarchy was deposed – becomes a republic. Ebert – German Republic was now in existence. Kaiser had lost support, could not handle the army, needed to resign. Encouraged Germans to keep essential services running, to avoid street demonstrations and to maintain law and order, his authority did not extend much beyond Berlin. Street demonstrations by ex soldiers were the norm in Berlin.Increase of USPD and Spartacists.Needed support from the army, huge supporters of the Kaiser and were opposed to democracy. E-G Pact – necessary and unavoidable, left saw it as a betrayal of the revolution – led to revolutions – see part 4.Army - Commander in Chief - Hans Von Seeckt – owed loyalty to the timeless Reich that showed German nationhood, NOT the Weimar Republic. Seeckt only allowed the army to get involved in politics when he said so. They were not allowed to do so themselves.Judiciary - The Republic stated that anyone attempting to overthrow the constitution by force should be sentenced to imprisonment.Left wing – punished with great severity. Right wing – treated leniently. Part 2 –The Impact of the Versailles Settlement on Germany.11th November 1918 Armistice – agreement to stop fighting. January 1919 – meeting with allies to talk about future. Germany was not invited to the meeting and not allowed to view the terms until 7th May. 16th June – allies gave Germany 7 days to accept treaty. 28th June – Germany accepted, Harsh, Diktat – Dictated peace. (Germany not allowed to the conference.). Territorial issues – removed 13% of German territory, overseas colonies, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France. Colonies to Africa were given to the League of Nations. Disarmament of Germany – Surrender all weapons, conscription was forbidden, limited to 100,000 men, not allowed to use gas/tanks, navy 15,000 men, limit of 6 ships and no submarines, no air force. War Guilt – Accept war guilt, forced to pay reparations, ?6.6 billion. The Rhineland – Left bank of Rhine and 50km strip was demilitarised. The Saarland – Under League of Nations control for 15 years, Germany would supply France, Belgium and Italy with free coal. Other – Austria was not allowed to unite with Germany, not allowed to join League of Nations. Kaiser to be put on trial for war crimes. Political Crisis 1919 – all parties agreed that accepting the treaty would be incompatible with German honour. Accepting the terms = Political division Objections:Wilson’s 14 points – Germany denied national self determination. (key term – page 14)War guilt clause – unjust, humiliating.Reparations – cripple German economy, did not accept war guilt therefore no need to pay reparations. Disarming and exclusion from League of Nations - unjustPolitical ImpactSPD – thought accepting the treaty was Germany’s only choice. Army and Hindenburg – thought about rejecting the treaty. Ebert – would reject the treaty if Groener could provide any other way of leaving the war. Groener said there was no alternative. Pro-republican parties – some turned against the Weimar.Right wing – Not all returning soldiers were hostile to the republic, many in favour of the republic, some joined the Freikorps – democratic parties was under continuous threat from nationalist parties.Part 3 – Economic and social problems in Germany, 1923-24.Economic - pay for war through increased borrowing and printing more money. 1919 – debt of 1.44 billion marks. Could not increase taxes out of fear of political instability. 1921 – Unemployment was virtually gone 1.8%, economy was strong, unlike other European countries, and inflation was increasing. 1923 – Inflation as out of control = hyperinflation. Hyperinflation 1923 – Ruhr – invaded by French and Belgians to invade the industrial sector of Germany in Jan 1923 to force payment of reparations. Took complete control of production. Germany’s response was passive resistance. 132 Germans were shot, French brought in their own workers.Social- Those from nov 1918 revolution motivated by desire for a better and freer life. Constitution brought about new social welfare changes. 1919 – Working day limited to 8 hours, state health insurance – included wives, daughters and disabled, aid for veterans because of injury, aid for war widows and orphans.1922 – National Youth Welfare Act – child protection and gave them the right to an education.Hyperinflation – money collected in wheelbarrows, gangs of cities travelled to the countryside to steal goods. Bartering increased, increase of convicts. 1920 coalition – supported by industrialists, benefitting from inflation by taking short term loans and expanding their businesses, in this way – inflation was beneficial for Germany. Political Impact of reparations – by 1922 Germany asked for a postponement of reparations in Jan/Feb and again in July. November – asked for a loan. France got annoyed. Impact of the occupation – Paying wages – further drain on economy. Germany had to import coal, shortage of goods increased prices. Bread – Jan 1923 – 163 marks, Oct 1923 – 9 million marks, Nov – 233 billion marks.Winners of HyperinflationBlack Marketers sold their food stocks for profit, debts were paid off in worthless currency, foreigners living in Germany, farmers – food was in demand and money was less important in the countryside.Losers – Pensioners, those who bought ‘war bonds’, landlords, unskilled and trade workers, artisans and small business owners, mittelstand, sick, children – disease and starvation.Part 4 – Political instability and extremism, 1919-24.Coalition Governments – Proportional Representation meant that no one government could rule the Reichstag. First four months of the Weimar were unstable. (table on page 27)Feb 1919-Nov 1923 – 10 coalition governments – increased extremist feelings. Left – Poorly organised and poor support, Ebert needed the army to crush the revolution – ended 13th Jan. Leaders of the revolt were executed, Ebert’s brutality and the way he crushed the revolt deepened the divisions on the left. Right – Ebert called a general strike, Berlin was in a standstill – 4 days later the Putsch was stopped. Army could not be trusted, civil servants were not loyal – without army, Weimar was weak. Ruhr invasion – anti French feeling, many blamed the government for what happened, middle class support for the Weimar was damaged – formation of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).Beer Hall Putsch – failed. He went ahead with his march through Munich, Nazis were shot, Hitler tried to run but got arrested, Ludendorff surrendered. Showed the importance of the army for political stability, Nazis were banned and Hitler were put in prison – republic had survived. Left – 5th Jan 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht – overthrow Ebert. Those involved in November revolution continued the left angst. Demobilised soldiers found it hard to adjust to civilian life.KPD – German Communist Party – minority support, mainly in industrial areas – determined to hold a revolution, did not have the support to do so. March 1919 –Spartacist uprising in Bavaria.April 1919 – Strikes in industrial areas, wanted more freedom over their work. 1920 – Workers after defeating the Kapp Putsch, Red Army was formed – took control of Ruhr.March 1921 – KPD force revolution, crushed by police. Right – Hostile to the republic, did not believe in democracy, betrayed fatherland. Some wanted to restore to monarchy, some wanted a dictatorship – this weakened to ability to hold a successful right wing revolution. Kapp Putsch 1920 – ToV disbanding of army and Freikorps – two more sections of the Freikorps asked to disband. General Luttwitz refused to do so, his arrest was ordered. Luttwitz help a protest through Berlin and gained the support of Wolfgang Kapp, Ludendorff refused to openly voice support. Beer Hall Putsch –Nov 1923 – Hitler knew he needed the support of powerful people, he had Ludendorff and needed Kahr and Lossow. 8th Nov – burst into a beer hall and surrounded it with the SA – start of the revolution. Aim – spread the revolution to Berlin. Support dropped over night. ................
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